This work comes in at around the sixty-second of what The New Grove Masters
of Italian Opera (Macmillan, 1983) lists as sixty-six operas by Donizetti.
Others give the total at around seventy. Sorry not to be more exact, but it
depends how one classifies the re-writes. Is Buondelmonte a new opera
rather than a modification of Maria Stuarda, the circumstances of which
I explain in the latest of my reviews of the latter opera. (See review).
Then there is the matter of revisions. This is important in respect of the
differences in this performance and that on the Arts label which contains
more than eleven minutes more music (see review).
The difference is accounted for by the additions Donizetti made for the Paris
production in 1843 to accommodate the coloratura soprano Fanny Tacchinardi
Persiani, the creator of the eponymous Lucia di Lammermoor in Naples
in 1835. The matter of what is included in this recording from the Paris additions
is dealt with in Jeremy Commons’ detailed essay with credit to Gabrielle
Dotto, editor of the new Critical Edition. One important addition from
the Paris revisions that is included, from what might be considered the original
text presented at the Vienna Kärntnertor on 19 May 1842, is the most
famous tune from the work, the cabaletta O luce di quest’anima
to Linda’s entrance aria (CD 1 tr.6). Critical Editions are not
meant to recreate the text and performance of the first night but, to quote
Gossett, (Divas and Scholars, Chicago, 2006, pp.134 et seq) himself
editor of many Rossini and Verdi Critical Editions, the purpose “is
to make available the best texts that modern scholarship, musicianship and
editorial technique can produce.” The consequence of the Dotto Critical
Edition is to breathe new life into a Donizetti opera that, perhaps because
of its rather facile story - a girl dallying in a kept situation whilst intent
on safeguarding her virginity - is naïve in the extreme and hardly plausible
in the present day. That is not to mention the French play from which the
opera derives and which takes a somewhat more harsh and realistic view of
the movement of young Savoyards to Paris to earn money. The performance here,
derived from a concert, can well be seen as the most appropriate context.
It was in this form that Mark Elder also conducted the work in London in 1998.

Along with this recording, Dotto’s work seems to have given rise to
a clutch of performances including a contemporaneous one in Bergamo, which
may yet, as others have done from that source, appear on DVD; one can but
hope.

The 1843 Paris performances, with Persiani in the title role, might well have
differed in many respects from the premiere in Vienna with Eugenia Tadolini
taking the part. The latter sang in many of Verdi’s early period works
and created the name role in his Alzira premiered at the San Carlo
in 1845 (Budden, The Operas of Verdi, Vol. 1, pp.226 et seq).
It would seem reasonable to suggest that Tadolini’s voice had more colour
and character than that of Persiani. With its mad scene and fraught emotional
duets in act two, Linda di Chamounix is an ideal opera for a lyric
coloratura soprano capable of a wide range of expression.

In their usual meticulous manner Opera Rara has sought out a singer who can
encompass the lightness and flexibility of Persiani alongside the more characterful
Tadolini. They have come up with the young Cuban-American soprano, Eglise
Gutiérrez, who is new to me, as have been many other singers on this
label. She has an appealing lightness and flexibility allied to good legato,
variety of tone and good expression. If she sounds a little tentative, even
inhibited from time to time, she is not alone. I suspect the circumstances
of the concert performance were not conducive to full dramatic conviction
despite Elder’s pacing and view of the score. If the formidable and
more experienced Mariella Devia realises more of the demands on the Arts issue,
Miss Gutiérrez’s performance is commendable for a young singer
and promises a considerable future career, especially in this repertoire.

Another performer new to me is the tenor Stephen Costello as Carlo. He is
the supposed impecunious painter, in reality Visconte di Sirval, in whose
plush apartment Linda lives in Paris. She is naïve to the extent of not
seeming to cotton on as to her perceived state of a kept woman, in what might
be termed Violetta mode. This makes her propositioning by the Marquis of Boisfleury,
and the reaction of her father, not too difficult to comprehend. Costello
sings with a welcome clear open ring to his tone making his ardent declarations
in his act two aria (CD 2 tr.3) eminently believable. His characterisation
is a little vague at times whilst a lack of elegance in his phrasing might
inhibit his promising future, although in recent months I have seen his name
carded at some distinguished operatic addresses.

Characterisation is no problem for Alessandro Corbelli, the seemingly veteran
buffa, as the Marquis of Boisfleury, and whose earlier behaviour is somewhat
implausibly forgiven in the finale (CD 3 tr.7). There are, however, dry patches
in his tone; not a problem with Ludovic Tezier as Antonio, Linda’s father
nor Bálint Szabó as The Prefect. All three are superior to their
counterparts in the Arts label performance. If I cannot say the same about
Marianna Pizzolato as Linda’s friend and supporter, the young hurdy-gurdy
player, Pierotto, it is only because of the competition from Sonia Ganassi.
Sufficient compliment to say that I would be happy to hear either in the theatre
and that in this performance Miss Pizzolato is a tower of strength in both
the quality of her singing and also in her characterisation. Her wide palette
of colour is well in evidence.

In the Opera Rara recording of Roberto de Devereux (see review)
I was not happy about the acoustic in the Royal Opera House and also the intrusions
of applause. I found the sound here had more presence, especially with the
volume turned a little louder than usual, and the only intrusions for applause
are at the end.

I have only briefly touched on Elder’s contribution in this recording
taken from two concert performances that opened the Royal Opera House season
in 2009. Although this lacks something of the vitality and verve of a staged
live performance, the absence of stage movement noise and fade are benefits.
Elder’s overall feel for this music, and wide experience of staged productions,
are in evidence in his support for the singers and the challenges they face
in the bel canto repertoire. Gabrielle Bellini for Arts is more lyrical
than Elder who manages the limitations of a concert performance well to build
tension and inflect the music with more dramatic pulse.

On this Opera Rara issue each of the three acts is contained on one disc.
The set comes with full libretto and translation in English as well as a synopsis
in French and German alongside the extensive essay by Jeremy Commons already
referred to.

Postscript 1. The success of Linda di Chamounix in Vienna led Donizetti
to be commissioned to write a further opera for the Kärntnertor theatre.
This became Maria di Rohan which waspremiered in June 1843.
Donizetti was showered with honours and appointed Imperial Court Composer.
At last it seemed as though his aspiration to follow Rossini in getting away,
at least in part, from the compositional treadmill was in sight. But Donizetti
had drawn too many short straws in life’s lottery with the death of
his children and his wife at the time of the composition of Roberto Devereux.
Any thoughts of an easier life were to be short-lived as, during the composition
of his final opera, Dom Sébastien, he was reported to have exhibited
erratic behaviour and flown into uncontrollable rages. Premiered in Paris
in November 1843 it was only modestly received by the Parisian audience. A
revised edition had a better reception in Vienna the following year. By then
Donizetti’s health was in serious decline and far from enjoying the
fruits of his more recent successes he became increasingly ill from the effects
of tertiary syphilis, known as general paralysis of the insane. He became
paralysed with the consequent cerebra-spinal degeneration and was placed in
an institution. For the last 17 months of his life he was paralysed and finally
comatose. He died at the age of only fifty-one.

Postscript 2. Opera Rara have already recorded Donizetti’s second Vienna
opera, Maria di Rohan, which will be issued in November 2011. Recorded
in November 2009, it features, among others, soprano Krassimira Stoyanova
in the title role, José Bros and Christopher Purves. Sir Mark Elder
conducts the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Like this recording, Maria di Rohan has been made with the financial
support of the Sir Peter Moores Foundation. However, it will be the last to
feature that support which has enabled Opera Rara to record, and maintain
in the catalogue, an unequalled number of the composer’s operas; around
eighteen I believe. They have the composer’s last staged opera, Caterina
Cornaro scheduled for recording in the autumn of 2011. This will feature
Carmen Giannattasio in the title role. She has already featured in recordings
of Parasina (see review)
and Rossini’s La Donna del Lago (see review)
and Ermione (see review)
for Opera Rara.

In restructuring, to secure financial support, Sir Mark Elder has become Artistic
Director. Philanthropist Ian Rosenblatt has been appointed Chairman. The website
gives details of Opera Rara and how to subscribe and support the continuance
of their efforts.

Robert J Farr

Performed in the new Critical Edition by Gabrielle Dotto, this is another
quality recording of a Donizetti opera complemented by the unsurpassed Opera
Rara presentation.